JDHS grad fights for the kids and the sport

Fairbanks' Alaska Cage Fighting Heavyweight Champion Pat Lumba, formerly from Juneau, starts a front kick on Charlie Gallant. Lumba returned to Juneau to support the benefit efforts of the event for the Juneau Combat Sports Academy. Lumba won by submission in the first round.

Fairbanks' Alaska Cage Fighting Heavyweight Champion Pat Lumba, formerly from Juneau, works on Charlie Gallant near the ring edge. Lumba returned to Juneau to support the benefit efforts of the event for the Juneau Combat Sports Academy.

Louis Garcia, left, and Jerico "Migrain" Santos exchange blows during their bout at Alaska Beat Down in Centennial Hall on Friday. Garcia won as referees stopped the fight to protect a bloodied Santos.

“Anything I can do to support the kids here in Juneau,” heavyweight champion Pat Lumba said after winning his bout in Friday’s Alaska BeatDown at Centennial Hall. “This is me just wanting to help the event do well. The purse is not a big deal to me. Being able to fight here for my friends and my family and for such a good cause, that is more important. It is such a cool experience. Anything I can do to help them out and to help my home town out.”

All the proceeds of the Alaska BeatDown go to benefit the Juneau Combat Sports Academy, in hopes more youth will become involved and more adults become accomplished in the sport. Organizer Russ Stevens stated that donations can also include sponsoring an event, thus allowing even more profits to go to the academy.

“I definitely believe in this sport,” Lumba said.

Born and raised in Juneau, the JDHS 2004 graduate is ranked number two in the Alaska Fighting Championships for the State of Alaska. Lumba holds the Fairbanks Alaska Cage Fighting heavyweight title and has an 11-1 record. He lost his first fight.

“There are so many things involved,” Lumba said. “The nerves, it’s like being in a fish bowl.”

Lumba trains six days a week for a fight and on the seventh day he does cardio.

He is big, yet flexible and moves well.

“It is the competition,” Lumba said. “It is exciting. They were having trouble finding someone to fight me. Especially this close to Christmas. Who wants to have bruises and look bad on Christmas morning.”

Lumba entered the ring, did a handstand and a cartwheel, and smiled shyly to his friends. Then his charitable work began.

His first strike was a high head kick that sailed above, over, around and then connected to Charlie Gallant’s face. It was obvious that Gallant, even with a 54 win and eight-loss record, was in over his head as well.

Luckily for Gallant the bout ended in the early seconds of the second round. It appeared Gallant was over powered to the ground and was crushed. Technically, Lumba applied a shoulder manipulation from the side position called an Americana and, here is the lucky part, when he heard Gallant’s elbow pop he told the referee that there might be a problem.

Sponsored by the Aurora Project, the Imperial Bar, a Native American clothing store and a restaurant or two, Lumba has pride in what he does.

“I want to defend my title in Fairbanks,” Lumba said. “I want to take a run at the Anchorage title and then expanding into the Northwest. I am pretty unknown, except here in Juneau. I am so happy everyone came out. I couldn’t have hoped for a better turnout here, I can’t wait to shower and get out there.”

Jeff Nielsen brought more far north combat skills to the ring, disposing of JR Diamond in a dirty boxing match of three rounds.

Nielsen is a Brazilian Jujitsu brown belt and runs an academy in Fairbanks called Frostbite Academy, the oldest MMA academy in the state.

“I was unaware of the special rules of that fight,” Nielsen said. “I figured out it was better to just hold the guy down and beat on him instead of work the submission. I would like the sport to get away from the brawling aspect and into the more technical aspects of the sport. It is a real straightforward, simple and honest sport. Two people against each other in a physical chess match.”

Nielsen used multiple knees and upper cuts and elbows to the back in rapid succession. In the final round Diamond was pinned to the floor and receiving lighting fast strikes.

“He took the fight on last minute,” Morford said. “He’s a tough guy and he came to scrap.”

Unfortunately for Purcell, Morford is a seven-year jujitsu fighter. After a few kicks from standing Purcell had to tap out and Morford was winner by submission.

“We weren’t going out there to just totally break ribs and smash each other, but of course we came to brawl. We treated it like a real fight, you can’t cheapen the sport. You go hard. This is the best sport out there, it allows you to train all aspects of yourself.”

The fight card began with Cam Mitchell getting a three round boxing decision over Josh “The Dark Night” White. Mitchell rocked White at the opening bell, both fighters tired into the second and Mitchell bloodied White’s nose in the third.

Ryan “Bubba” Larson spent longer getting into the ring than actually fighting in it as he disposed of Kris “2 Tall” McKinley in 30 seconds by knock out in their dirty boxing match.

Ray Coronell won a dirty boxing three rounder over Jauger Tipps. Coronell applied a chokehold that Tipps was saved at the bell from and then continued to be the aggressor through the final rounds for the split decision win. Tipps rocked Coronell once to his knees as well.

Brian Lauth won a unanimous boxing decision over Josh Jones. Jones was an aggressor but always had his hands down and Lauth teed off repeatedly.

Thomas “The Terror” Tajon easily over matched Franke-E Fingerz Johnson in an MMA bout. After two straight “superman” punches by Tajon, the bout was called round one and Tajon got the TKO.

Mitch Zarazua beat William Milton in a three round MMA fight, that was stopped in the final round after Zarazua connected with a flying round house kick to Milton’s head. Zarazua also connected on standing knees to the face of Milton.

Louis Garcia defeated Jerico “Migrain” Santos in a boxing bout. The match was stopped in the second round after Santos was bloodied. Santos received two standing eight counts in the contest.

The fight of the night saw Billy “The Hebrew Hammer” Zimmerman win a split decision over Henry Dehling. The first blow from Zimmerman put Dehling’s mouthpiece out of the ring and started a blood flow that continued through three rounds. Dehling had control of the second round and caused a slight cut to Zimmerman’s eye. Dehling was held on in the final round and Zimmerman delivered multiple standing knees.